Talks continue on deal to save doomed pit

Workers at Kellingley Colliery are holding a meeting with Yvette Cooper after UK Coal announced the pit will close unless the government step in to help.

Talks between pit bosses and investors are still ongoing to prevent Kellingley Colliery from imminent closure.

Almost 80 per cent of workers voted in favour of pit operator UK Coal’s proposal - backed by £20m of investment from the government and private sector - to close Kellingley by December 2015.

But UK Coal said the deal has not yet been fully agreed by those involved.

Gordon Grant, UK Coal spokesman, said: “We are still going through the process of agreeing the deal.

“With any deal like this there is an awful lot of legal work to be done and until that’s done we can’t be certain of it being agreed.

“But everyone is keen to get it done as soon as possible .”

Workers at the site and unions say they are still working on securing a long-term future for the colliery.

Chris Kitchen, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary, said: “I think the workers were backed into a corner having to vote on either losing their job now or in 18 months but we’ve always said we will continue to fight for a long-term future for Kellingley.”